The USS Dauntless Project
by alprunty
Summary: A trek Story Set 25 years in the future from the return of Voyager deep space exploration has been stifled due to the vast known distances. Admiral Janeway has revived the Borg's Quantum Slipstream project, or so it seems... very few people know of the true nature and capabilities of this ship. And there are those who will stop at nothing to end her project.
1. Chapter 1 - Three Months Before Launch

**Preface and Dedication:** Over ten years ago I started a play by e-mail sim on an old dial-up BBS system. It was the USS Dauntless and we explored theoretical trek technologies. Iris was born long before Cortana and Andromeda and she is neither of the two. Those who have messaged me about ripping them off need to know that we had explored the possibility of a holographic interface long before the Voyager's series. Although we have greatly updated her from the old days from the sim.

This story is dedicated to my assistant GM Martin St. Onge who passed away way to early in life. I owe much to you, my friend. I also dedicate it to those who have supported me in my creative writing endeavors, my friends Bindi, Michael and Jeff here in Louisville... Luke in NY, Nan in NJ, Kim in PA, and Janet in TX.

I also owe much to the Great Bird of the Galaxy, Gene Roddenberry for his visionary universe. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez, the true Grandmother and Grandfather of StarTrek, after all, if it wasn't for them giving Gene a chance it would never have been developed. The cannon characters are not my own, I invoke creative commons license in using them and state that my vision is an alternative universe that exists outside of canon.

I also appreciate my readers and followers... I appreciate your reviews, your private messages, and your support. I hope to continue to bring you the best story possible. I do warn you I am known for wicked twists don't get too comfortable my motto is there isn't a character that's not disposable and all is fair in war and peace. Sometimes nothing is as it seems and sometimes it's exactly as it seems.

Bear in mind sometimes it takes me a while to answer posts as I am not well. I am disabled and have very limited time on the computer due to a traumatic brain injury. I often will expand chapters as this is overall a complete work in progress I will put a preface on a chapter when things has been expanded.

\- Allen

* * *

**Starfleet Headquarters in San Fransisco  
Three Months Before Launch**

Captain Jonas Alexander anxiously looked out the window of his temporary quarters in the Starfleet HQ Complex. His last assignment was the first officer on the USS Onyx, a science vessel that was sent to explore an uncharted expanse that bordered the Tholians. He realized it had been a long time since he set foot on earth as a beautiful sunrise painted San Fransisco Bay with an amazing display of color... he marveled at the old bridge across the water which still was used by a few land vehicles. He donned his best uniform and double checked everything to ensure that it was meticulously squared away, he was about to receive his first command and a sense of pride washed over him. His only regret was that he was unable to visit his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina before he was assigned his command. There was nothing like home and he longed for the smell of the crisp Appalachian fall. Admiral Janeway personally sent notice that he was hand picked by her for his first command. Jonas was puzzled why a person who was trained to captain a science vessel would be assigned to a larger starship. He sighed as he took one final self-inspection in the mirror and was satisfied with his grooming. He dimmed the lights and left his quarters to see what his fate would hand him.

The young Captain walked the corridors of Starfleet Headquarters stopping only for a moment to admire the sky atrium. It had an even more magnificent view of the Golden Gate Bridge than his temporary quarters. The bridge was restored to its full mid-20th Century period appearance. Sadly, he sighed as he realized he never really took the time to appreciate all the wonders that Earth had to offer and would all too soon return to deep space where he spent most of his career. He walked through the gardens for almost an hour before resuming his path to the Deep Space Exploration Department. He felt a bit nervous as he approached the counter where Admiral Janeway's personal assistant was sitting.

A severe looking young Vulcan glanced upward and smiled as warmly as a Vulcan could, "You must be Captain Alexander, you are quite early... please have a seat and make yourself comfortable and I notify the Admiral you are here." The slender Vulcan female stood up and walked to another room only to promptly return with the Admiral in tow. Kathryn Janeway was a woman who aged quite gracefully.

Janeway smiled, "I like punctuality... but one hour and fifteen minutes early is a bit much, even by my strict standards."

Captain Alexander found himself in awe of the legend who stood before him, "Ma'am... the opportunity just to meet you, the things I have studied about your adventures..." he blushed in embarrassment and added,

"I simply did not want to be late."

She smiled back as she poured herself a cup of coffee, "Well I guess not," she warmly responded trying not to chuckle a bit. "I once knew a young Captain who was very nervous about receiving her first command. This particular Captain had to take a newly commissioned ship into a hostile zone... she was quite early to report to her admiral as well... and hurried to get to her new command only later wishing she had taken the time to pack away some extra naturally grown coffee in her belongings." Janeway sighed as she reminisced for a moment then waved her hand at an antique silver coffee server on a delicate table setting by her open office door, "by all means pour yourself a cup and step into my office where I will brief you on your new command."

Alexander passed on the coffee and followed the aged Admiral to her office, the door silently slid shut as he took his seat only after she took hers. "Ma'am, if I may ask one question..."

"It's Kathryn when we speak privately in my office or any place you are in my presence one on one. We can speak candidly..." she walked around to the back of an elegant antique desk, "I know what you are about to ask... you want to know why I chose you to command a starship?" she said as she took a sip of the rich coffee she so treasured.

The young captain looked at her sheepishly, "that is exactly my question... how did you..."

Janeway continued, "that's why I am an Admiral and you are the Captain, Admirals have to know these things," she said with a chuckle, "I'm going to be straight to the point, because I don't know any other way to be... your scientific background is impressive, I would even go so far to say it's unmatched when compared to our most veteran captains. But I don't need a seasoned veteran Captain to take command of the Dauntless... I want someone who is willing to take new approaches to using new technologies. I believe you will be right at home with her as she is nothing like you have ever seen before. The design is a radical departure from our standard build of starships. You might say I am giving you the opportunity of a lifetime on a silver platter. I want you to depart immediately to familiarize yourself with the ship and to shake out any bugs. I want a captain that does not have preconceived notions of what a ship's computer... and how a ship should run to cloud his mind with the possibilities of the Dauntless."

Alexander stood up, "I definitely do not want to let the legendary Admiral Kathryn Janeway down, seems like I have my work cut out for me."

Kathryn stood up and approached the young Captain brushing off his shoulders and looking him in the eye much like a grandmother would instead of a fleet admiral. "Jonas, frankly I've watched your career for a long time, I know… in my heart.. you are the one." She smiled with a sly twinkle in her eye and mused about how much he reminded her of the eager young Captain she was when the Voyager assignment was given to her.

He stood up and asked, "so when does the Dauntless leave out? I don't recall ever seeing a ship by that name before."

"Here's where things get interesting," Janeway said, "The dauntless is not yet completed. You are to take a month's personal leave and whatever your coffee is I strongly suggest you pack some extra... you just never know." She took another sip and continued, "spend some time with your family and then report to Nevada to the Nellis Starship facility."

"What Nellis starship facility?" Jonas asked.

"Oh," she said with a sly twinkle in her eye, "the big secret starship facility deep underground where we develop our newest ship technologies. In due time kiddo... enjoy your leave for now, I promise you will be quite busy once it's over. Do you have any other questions?"

"Not at this time," he said.

"Then you are dismissed," she responded.

Several minutes after he stepped out of the office a young woman seemed to appear from nowhere. Janeway greeted her as if she wasn't surprised, "Hello Iris, I can only assume you witnessed the whole thing?"

"Yes I did," the young woman who seemed to appear from the shadows said with a very formal British accent.

Janeway took another sip of her coffee, "so what do you think?"

Iris smiled, "I think I like him a lot better than the other Captains you were considering, he has spirit and spunk... you have made a good choice."

"Time will tell Iris..." she said as she stood up and stretched, "only time will tell."


	2. Chapter 2 - ICARUS Project

In a shimmer the cat-like form of Lt. Commander Fairuza Harth materialized in the main transporter room of Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco. Harth exited the room into a grand foyer and sighed, "Computer, where is Research and Development lab L-231." A panel on the wall lit up to show the exact location of the lab. Wasting no time, Harth found the lab she pressed the door chime and waited.

After a few minutes the door opened and a young man in a white lab coat stuck his head out. "Lt. Cmdr. Harth, weapons specialist from the Dauntless I presume?"

Harth smiled, "I'm Lt. Commander Harth, Captain Alexander said you've got a special delivery for me."

The tech smiled, "Indeed I do, it is exactly as you designed it." The tech walked to a bench near the back of the lab, on which sat a simple silver case, no bigger than a shoebox. He opened the case in an almost reverent manner and removed an object from the molded foam packing inside. "Say hello to your special Project I.C.A.R.U.S." In the tech's hands sat what appeared to be a simple, black, fingerless glove. There were silver shapes on the palm, back and wrist of the glove, but other than that it seemed rather unremarkable. The tech offered it to Harth, "Would you like to try it out now in a controlled laboratory environment?"

Harth took the glove from the tech and admired the final product. The material the glove was constructed of was very thin, but the glove itself was much heavier than she had expected. I see the improvement over the prototype, what material did the eggheads finally settle on?"

The tech responded, "It's an alloy we call Bio-Trialuminite, it is incredibly strong but also very lightweight and flexible. It is as flexible as old fashioned rubber-latex."

Harth turned it over in her hands. On the back of the hand of the glove was a slightly raised, rounded, triangular, silver shape. On the back of the wrist was a series of silver dots...similar in configuration to the controls on a Phaser. On the palm of the glove was another, smaller, silver triangle and more silver dots.

The tech continued, "Bio-Trialuminite also has a molecular memory, no matter what shape it gets bent or squished into, it will always return to its original shape. Watch!" The tech took one of the gloves and viciously crushed it into a tiny ball in the palm of his hand. Harth watched as the ball unfolded itself and smoothed out into a glove again. The tech then asked, "I am curious, what exactly does I.C.A.R.U.S. mean?"

Harth stood up with the regal gracefulness of a Caitian and smiled, "its official acronym is the "Individually Calibrated Assault Response Utility System", but we call it "I.C.A.R.U.S" for short. I have been developing it for six years now, however, Starfleet Weapons Research has made it even lighter and more resilient than expected. It will be field tested on the Dauntless." Harth sighed, "The whole ship is a working field test of the new technology."

The tech smiled, "it sounds like a tech's paradise."

Harth put on the I.C.A.R.U.S. the glove immediately shrank to her hand. She smiled as it seemed to draw tight and make a second skin against her fur adjusting as well as it could to the vacation of colors beneath. "I guess it would look less conspicuous on human skin. Unfortunately, I won't be able to activate it until I get back to the Dauntless, the computer must activate it with my DNA."

The tech handed Harth a shiny metallic box, "There are enough I.C.A.R.U.S. units in here to issue to every crew member of the Dauntless."

Harth took the box, "Thank you. um. and your name is?"

The tech smiled, "Chief Petty Officer Jason Waters, Level 2 armory technician."

Harth smiled once again, "Mr. Waters have a wonderful day. Expect me to send you a field report soon. That is unless you want to come aboard."

Waters beamed a bright smile, "Really?"

The caitian purred, "I only want the best for my weapon's project and it would be nice to have a tech that is familiar with the activation process to get everyone on board calibrated to their I.C.A.R.U.S. who knows this may lead to a nice field promotion... pack your stuff and I'll have the orders drawn up."

The young man looked at her in disbelief, "You can really do that?" He asked.

"How do you think you were picked for the project already, I have vetted your credentials long ago and I only surround myself with the best?" She smiled as her cat eyes twinkled, "I would strongly suggest you begin packing your belongings and be ready for the orders which will soon arrive."

With that, she departed making her way to the nearest transporter room clutching the box of I.C.A.R.U.S units. She stepped over to the transporter's scanners and tapped her communications badge, "Iris, one to beam over," in a flash of an eye she dematerialized.


	3. Chapter 3 - On Through the Looking Glass

**-[ Two Days later Nellis Starship Research Facility ]-**

Deep in the underground facility where many of Earth's alien myths and legends were born, B'Elanna Paris was admiring the sleek hull of the dauntless. it was graceful and defied traditional starship construction. B'Elanna thought that Tom's old Area 51 stories were humorous attempts at science fiction... until she talked to the many scientists that were assigned to the project and it became apparent that there was some truth to the stories.

The Ship was very bird-like in its appearance; the saucer section was very triangular to facilitate better slipstream travel. The nacelles arched gracefully from the main star drive section giving it a very sleek and dramatic form. There was no other ship in the fleet that even approached the design of the Dauntless. B'Elanna Paris was expecting the Captain to arrive and was pacing the concrete hangar floor just underneath the ship when Tom walked up.

"I would say she is a bit art deco wouldn't you?" Tom asked as he handed B'Elanna a beverage.

B'Elanna took a sip out of the cup and smiled, "Still infatuated with the 20th century I see."

Tom stepped behind B'Elanna and placed his hands on her shoulders, "You have dreamed about this ship even before the Voyager arrived back at Earth. It was your sole aspiration and soon she will be in space where she belongs. I think you have done well my love, although I find it quite ironic that we are in a secret base deep inside the Earth in the facility the housed many of the twentieth-century conspiracies."

B'Elanna smiled, "Yes, but the only thing I regret is I am too old and too valuable to Starfleet right now to be a crew member on the ship. My responsibilities are now research and development... but my heart is in space, traveling the stars as a ship's engineer. At least Janeway promised you the chance to be the first one to sit at her helm on the shakedown cruise."

Tom leaned over and kissed B'Elanna, "Darling, this way you can be at my side as I take her out and I would not trade that for anything in the world." Tenderly he stroked the white shock of hair that striped behind her forehead ridge. "You are as beautiful to me as the day I first laid eyes on you after the Voyager transported from the Marquis ship. I would not want it any other way you deserve to be on the bridge on the shakedown cruise."

B'Elanna smiled, "And when you get the keys you better not wreck mamma's car." She turned to face him, "and you don't want to know what I thought of you the first time I saw you." The term arrogant asshole popped into her mind, but he soon grew on her.

A voice behind startled them, "So this is the Dauntless? She has to be the most beautiful ship I have ever encountered." The two of them turned to see Captain Jonas Alexander facing them. His bags were lying on the ground beside him along with a cat carrier and his prized dulcimer. "I never expected it to look like a traditional starship, but this is unlike anything else."

B'Elanna walked over and nudged Tom to follow each of them took a bag from beside him. Two crewmen came and picked up the rest of the bags. B'Elanna tapped her communicator, "Iris, five to beam aboard."

The five beamed aboard where a beautiful woman in an unusual variation of a StarFleet uniform it was all black uniform with the color silver where the traditional red, blue or gold would be. Captain Alexander immediately noticed the transporter room lacked the traditional control panel. The young woman spoke in a very proper British accent, "I am Iris, and it's a pleasure to meet you Captain Alexander, I have taken the liberty to download all of your medical records, service records, personal log entries, and have also connected into the housing computer at Starfleet Headquarters and the main computer of the USS Onyx where you were last assigned. I downloaded all of the music, books, movies and other media you previously accessed that was in their databases for your enjoyment. I hope you will like your quarters, I personally researched your background and prepared the Captain's Quarters with furnishing that I believe will make you most comfortable." She turned and looked at the bags, "Please let me handle those." The bags vanished as a precision transporter moved them to the Captain's quarters.

Jonas was startled, "Is it common for someone to pry into the personal matters of a Captain before they settle in?"

"Oh? I'm sorry how rude of me, it's a pretty common function for any ships computer to automatically transfer the personal files of crew members before they board, however, I am engineered to be a more intuitive computer." Iris seemed to become a bit defensive.

Jonas interrupted, "Don't you mean programmed?"

Iris resented the term programmed and continued on with her accent becoming ever more proper British accenting her sultry voice, "I actually like to think evolved would be a better term since I am based on the Doctor's holoprogram, the positronic matrix of Mr. Data and further artificial intelligence advances developed by Seven. Technically I am the ship's computer's sentient mark 10 holographic interface specifically designed to interact with the crew and improve efficiency, morale, and security on board the ship. I believe that some would even call me a photonic lifeform."

B'Elanna whispered into Captain Alexander's ear, "Whatever you do, never refer to her as it. She does have emotions."

Jonas asked, "Does she have full control of the ship?"

B'Elanna shook her head no, "Iris is only a computer interface to make interacting with the computer more efficient and intuitive. She can operate the transporters and other minor functions of the ship, however, she functions more like the traditional voice of the computer. Seven describes her as the next evolution of operating system interface anything you would normally ask the computer to do, you simply ask Iris."

Jonas smiled, "I see. instead of the cold dry voice we have become accustomed to we have a bubbly little..."

Iris turned and faced the Captain and firmly responded, "Excuse me?"

Jonas glanced at B'Elanna and sighed, "I'm sorry, but you are certainly going to take some getting used to you, Iris. Please show me to my quarters I need to settle in. I will report to the bridge in 8 hours please assemble the senior staff in the conference room and have them ready to brief me on the status of the ship."

Iris gestured and pointed to the lights moving along the corridors, "Simply follow as normal and it will lead you to your quarters."

Jonas smiled, "Thank you, and I'll see you guys on the bridge soon." As Jonas walked down the corridors he noticed instead of the normal cold metallic corridors, the Dauntless had what appeared to be finely crafted pine wood panels. It gave the ship a warm feeling and had a fresh fragrance. He looked down as a couple of small robots were vacuuming the carpet in the corridor. He arrived at a door that was neatly labeled Captain Jonas Alexander, Quarters. The doors slid open and Iris was sitting in a chair petting the Captain's pet cat, Tikka. Jonas was startled, "What are you doing here?

Iris smiled as she looked up with deep blue eyes, "I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion, but I am programmed to care for the crew's pets whenever they are unable to. This precious little darling was thirsty and had no water. She was also dreadfully unhappy in the carrier and wanted to run around for a bit." The kitty was purring loudly in her lap.

Jonas was beyond unnerved at this point, "So you are monitoring everyone all the time?"

Iris stood up, "Oh, I've made you uncomfortable again." She said as she looked down at her feet, "Yes, I monitor all crew members as any ship's computer does. However, I am able to take action in a life-threatening emergency, unlike other ship's computers. I am projecting a 90% faster emergency medical response when needed... I am also a fully qualified medical interface," She said proudly.

Jonas calmed a bit, "Just promise me that you will give me some privacy, your hologram can be a bit disturbing."

Iris's hologram disappeared and her face appeared on a small panel on the wall, "Does this make you more comfortable?"

Jonas paused for a moment, "Not much more, but it's a start." The new Captain walked around his quarters opening the galley's cabinet only to find the design of the drinking glasses he chose for his previous quarters were replicated and lined up neatly. He also noticed that much of his personal belongings were already unpacked and placed throughout his living quarters. All of the chosen items of décor was familiar to him... when he sat on his bed he smiled as he realized that it was a natural feather mattress. "Iris," He paused for a second to see how she would respond.

Iris appeared once again on the wall panel, "Yes sir?"

Jonas smiled, "I like what you done with the quarters, I must admit you have really soothed a lot of stress with my new command by creating familiar surroundings, thank you."

Iris responded, "Then I have accomplished what I had hoped to do, it is my pleasure," Her face beamed with the satisfaction that he enjoyed the quarters she meticulously planned for him. She watched him as he reclined on his bed she hoped he noticed the soft smell of the Carolina pine forest as he closed his eyes and took a well-deserved nap.


	4. Chapter 4 - An Odd Place For A Bridge

Captain Jonas yawned as the alarm chimes in his quarters went off. He had slept for three hours and was quite refreshed. The lights were gradually illuminating to awaken him gently. He sat up and stretched as he looked at the chronograph knowing that in one hour he would go to the bridge and assume command of the ship… even though it was still deep within an underground bunker.

He swung his feet over the side of his bed and reached down slipping on one boot and then the other. He walked over to the mirror and picked up his shaver, waiving it over his face his beard hairs vaporized leaving baby bottom smooth skin behind. He felt Tikka rubbing against his leg and looked down at the calico kitty who only offered a squeak in protest of the empty food bowl. He picked it up and placed it in the replicator and pushed the recycle button… it vanished into thin air. He then ordered, "feline dinner mackerel please," and another bowl materialized with a strong fish smell of food arranged neatly in the center of it. The kitty seemed to go crazy meowing playfully as he sat the bowl back down on the floor. He stroked her back and she purred as she gulped down a bite of her dinner.

With that he straightened his uniform and made his way into the corridor where he tapped the panel on the wall, "Iris can you please give me directions to the bridge."

There was the familiar beep of acknowledgment that any Federation computer would give and Iris materialized beside him, this time wearing her hair up in a severe regulation bun, "Sir, it would be my honor to accompany you to the bridge."

"I would have been just as happy to receive directions like any normal computer would give," Jonas protested.

"Oh my dear Captain," she said in a very condescendingly voiced British accent, "in case you haven't figured it out there's nothing normal about the Dauntless…" she paused for a moment as if she was deep in thought about something, "although I protest at the thought that it makes me abnormal… I don't even thing I like the word unusual… maybe peculiar, perhaps?"

"I see I have offended the great computer again," Captain Alexander mused as they got to what appeared to be a turbo lift. It opened to a mini-transporter room.

"I much rather prefer to be called Iris," she said as she motioned for him to step in. "The Dauntless works more efficiently with site-to-site transporters, we found that slipstream flight could distort the turbo lift shafts causing horrific accidents to happen… and we don't want accidents do we." They both stepped in and her eyes seemed to light up as the transporter engaged and Jonas found himself in a room that was labeled as the bridge on the transporter station. This time Iris appeared in the same silver jumpsuit she wore when he came aboard with her hair down loose along her shoulders, "since I don't have matter and am technically everywhere at any given time my avatars may appear different based on the areas you encounter me… for instance in engineering I wear an engineering uniform to match the crew… if I am assisting in medical I wear scrubs."

"And you manage to accessorize as well as my ex-wife," the Captain fired back.

Iris frowned, "when I look good the crew is more comfortable with me."

Jonas looked around the bridge and noticed it had no skylight windows above in the ceiling… it was elegant, the room was covered in exotic woods, the floor was gleaming granite and marble. Instead of a Captain's chair flanked by senior staff, as most every bridge in Starfleet was configured, he was shocked to find five chairs arranged in a circle facing the center of the room. He looked at Iris, "Tell me where the view screen is and which chair is mine?"

Iris chuckled, "there is no view screen" she stepped down and touched one of the chairs activating the holographic image projector in the center of the room. "The projector works on a point of view matrix… no matter which chair you choose the image will align to your point of view as if you were looking straight on to the view screen. Your senior staff occupy the other chairs and they will have the same perspective as you do. Actually anyone on the bridge who looks to the center will see everything head on in perspective… it's amazing technology isn't it?"

"Where is the bridge on the ship, most have portholes," Jonas mused.

Iris made an image of all the decks appear in the center of the room on the holo-matrix, "the bridge is in the center of the ship in the second most armored area."

"Second most armored… what is the first?" Jonas mused for a moment and before he could speak, "let me guess the computer core."

"Correct," She said brightly and without apology, "without me this ship could not navigate. I am the most powerful computer ever designed by the federation… I must be capable of navigating the quantum slipstream drive… I would think you would want me to be well protected while in flight."

"Wow… you don't have to be so defensive," Captain Alexander chuckled.

With a pout she said, "I don't think you like me."

"I have a feeling you'll grow on me in time," He said as one of his first command staff members materialized onto the bridge.

"Lt. Commander Harth reporting for duty," the Catian said as she sniffed, "you didn't have to bring dinner." As she smelled traces of the mackerel on the captain?

"Dinner," he said as he turned to see the Catian standing behind him, "oh… I fed my…" he froze a the awkwardness of saying pet to her.

"It's ok," she said, "we keep domestic earth felines as pets… to us they are like living dolls."

He noticed her markings were much like a Siamese cat, she had the most intense ice blue eyes, "I've never served with a Catian before," he said sheepishly, "forgive me for staring."

"It's quite alright," Harth said as she walked over to him, "Let me fit you with your I.C.A.R.U.S. it will take a bit getting used to, but it will become as a second skin. I will schedule you some time on the training range to teach you all that it can do." She walked over to him and slipped the loose fingerless glove on his right hand. "Iris if you will do the honors and pair it to the Captain?"

"Pair it," Jonas asked as he read very little about the device that will work as a weapon, tricorder, communications device, and transporter enhancer. "I'm sorry, but I did not receive a lot of information on the ships systems or devices before I transported."

Harth smiled, "Iris is the Dauntless… and she's not like anything that can be explained in a mere manual. The I.C.A.R.U.S. is a unique piece of technology, it can be removed only with great difficulty as it forms a second skin and maps to your DNA. This is why each crew member is paired to their ICARUS, you can shower with it, swim with it and do anything you normally would do through life's activities. After wearing it for a day, it's almost like it becomes a part of you and you will pay it no more mind."

"So I've been told," the Captain said with a sly smile at the Iris hologram who only smiled back defiantly as she activated the I.C.A.R.U.S. causing it to shrink to the exact fit of the captain's hand.

Harth nodded, "it has phaser capabilities as well as micro-tractor beams… it can read your mind," she said as she stretched her arm out towards a pad that sat on a counter ten feet away. "For instance you can use the micro-tractor beams to pick something up…" the pad floated gracefully through the air and landed softly in her hand. She passed it to the Captain, "everything you need to know is in here."

Harth then opened her hand up palm facing upwards as the hologram of the recently promoted Chief Jason Waters appeared as a hologram, "Chief, please schedule some range time with Captain Alexander… I.C.A.R.U.S. training."

The image of Waters nodded as he touched the computer panel at his station, "Would tomorrow at 13:00 hours work fine."

"I'll be there," Jonas mused as he walked around the circular bridge… "This reminds me of the round table." He watched the hologram of Chief Waters nod in acknowledgment and disappear as she closed her palm.

"Round table," both Harth and Iris asked.

"An old Earth legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table… all sat down at a great table that was round making them all equal in the eyes of each other."

"We have a story about a mythic leader named Freya who had a similar table," Harth added, "amazing each culture has such stories."

Iris paused as she accessed the entire writings of the King Arthur legends… "Oh, what a delightful book of stories."

Jonas chuckled, "yes… but here it seems like there's some truth to that design in this bridge." He looked at Harth, "who is my first officer?"

"You haven't picked one yet?" she asked almost in surprise.

He smiled brightly, "I just did… Iris… contact Admiral Janeway and let her know that Lt. Commander Harth is now the first officer of the Dauntless... for me to feel comfortable in this command I need someone who is familiar with all of her technology… and I need someone I know is going to watch my back."

Harth blinked in surprise… "Are you certain?"

"Call it intuition… yes, I am certain," Jonas said. "We have three weeks to get this crate ready for its shakedown flight."

"Crate," Iris said defensively.

"No offense intended," Jonas said as he looked at Harth, "is she always this sensitive."

Harth chuckled with a hint of purr and said, "always… but at least you called Iris a 'she' and not an 'it' so you are making progress."


	5. Chapter 5 - Introduction to the ICARUS

Chief Jason Waters smiled as he arrived at his office and found his name printed on the office door only to notice the name placard was changed, show his name with the incorrect rank and title. MCPO. Jason Waters, Chief of Armory. He reached out and touched the letters finding them slightly elevated and cool on the wall's surface next to his door.

The Captain's voice seemed to suddenly come from nowhere, "Congratulations Master Chief," he said as he placed his hand on the shoulder of the enlisted crewman who turned around instantly to face him. Captain Alexander quickly exchanged the rank insignia with the new Master Chief rank, "you have done well and you deserve this promotion. I am entrusting all of the I.C.A.R.U.S. projects to you, especially now that Commander Harth is my first officer. She speaks so highly of you and your service record is impeccable."

Waters was speechless he stood there and blinked not knowing what to say so he immediately snapped to a salute. "Thank you, sir, I won't let you down." He looked at the hand of the captain, the ICARUS unit had molded itself to the captain's hand and it seemed that he was used to the added weight of the unit. "Captain Alexander, you are adjusting well to the device." He chuckled a bit, "I had to make some modifications on Harth's unit," he paused to make sure she was not around, "she had a slight habit of licking it when she was sleeping."

The Captain smiled and filed that into the back of his mind in case he would ever need a tidbit to haze his new first officer then he remembered how the informality that Admiral Janeway afforded him, "Please when we are one on one the name is Jonas... Captain in formal command settings... do you mind if I just call you Jason?"

The Chief was stunned, "um... I don't have a problem, Captain Jonas."

"Just Jonas," he said as he followed him into the large arena like the room next to his office. It was similar to a standard Phaser range with the addition of objects scattered around the room. "Your range is a bit untidy."

Jason looked at him, "Sorry Sir..." he cleared his throat, "um... Jonas... the objects on the floor are needed for the real training of the I.C.A.R.U.S., if you look at the back of your hand you will see controls that are similar to any phaser," he raised his own hand up, "the controls range from stun to maximum kill sufficient to vaporize an opponent. This is the only manual control on the device, we found in initial testing that when the user would get emotional or frustrated the neurological interface would bump from stun to kill... or if the user was emotionally attached to the target it would lower to the lowest setting even when the tactical situation required a more deadly setting."

Chief Waters lowered the setting to stun, "it's really pretty straightforward... it's hard to miss your target when using the ICARUS you just raise your hand palm out and visualize where you want the phaser to hit and think FIRE and it will." As he raised his hand he looked down range where there were ten targets he viewed all of them and smiled as he thought FIRE. The beam emitted from the ICARUS and with rapid surgical precision it touched each target in rapid succession. "You could not do that with any Starfleet issued phaser."

Jonas stood there in awe for a moment, "no... that is impressive. You are quite skilled with the device."

"Not really, given a little bit of time and minimal training anyone can be a sniper," the younger man said, "trust me, it's easy why don't you give it a try."

Jonas raised his hand palms up and looked downrange at the targets numbering them randomly to see if the beam would skip around in order and thought FIRE. The weapon immediately danced between all the targets and had tagged each of them in less than five seconds, "amazing!" The Captain exclaimed, "well I guess I need to get on to my other duties on the ship."

Jason shook his head side to side, "no you have completed the easy part of the training. Now we move on to the challenging stuff." He smiled with a bit of playfulness, "not you find out what all the articles are on the floor. The Icarus is powered by you... when you rest, it rests. When your heart beats faster and your adrenals kick in it will tap into that energy. You never need to charge it, there's no need to take it off. If you get captured you can simply think STEALTH towards it and it will cloak because it uses your own biology's energy no sensor at this time can detect it as anything other than a medical prosthesis." He looked at his hand and gave his unit the STEALTH command. "When the unit goes into stealth mode it immediately downshifts into the lowest stun setting. In stun, you do not need to adjust the power level as it will know what it takes to stun a human vs a brikarian. We have even designed a mesh version now for Commander Harth so that her fur looks natural in the device she has adapted to it and in stealth mode you can not detect the device on her hand. Starfleet Command recommends that all personnel keep it in stealth mode unless a stronger phaser blast is needed." He nodded in approval when the Captain put his device into stealth mode. They also have ordered that all personnel carry conventional phasers as any normal situation requires, especially on a star base or installation as the I.C.A.R.U.S. is still a classified device. So far so easy, eh?"

Jonas smiled, "so far this is child's play."

The Chief continued without his mouth moving, "yes it is... but we are going to get into some more advanced training in a minute. Security officers on board will have a second I.C.A.R.U.S. on the other hand that mirrors the control pad on the dominant hand."

"What the hell," the captain exclaimed.

Jason spoke, "only in the training room can I use the mind communication without the receiver's permission. Otherwise, you would hear the voice of Iris announcing my incoming mind link which is what we call the synthetic telepathic communication. We can exchange verbal thoughts, images, and pretty much anything a natural telepath can do. We learned from years of biological study of the Betazoids that we can add this to a communicator. However, Betazoids are disciplined from birth on telepathic manners, so Iris serves as a telepathic gatekeeper. Mind link only works when the Dauntless is within communication's range. As captain, you can override the gatekeeper protocol and go direct, as can any officer you designate. Unlike the Betazoids, you can not mind link and take information from a person or read their emotions. They have to respond back to you just as they do with the communicator."

Jonas smiled as he thought Mind Link CPO Waters... Iris confirmed the link, "Can you hear me?"

"Clearly," Jason said with a smile... "ready for something more difficult?"

Jonas nodded, "Bring it."

"Now it gets physical, the tractor beam system in the I.C.A.R.U.S. can both attract and repulse. You can use it to move an object like a hover truck... you can use it to give you an advantage at hand to hand combat... you can use it to float items to you without having to get up and get them. Simply command in your mind what you want it to do... it's very hard to develop the coordination to do this." Jason looked at a piece of rope laying on the floor it levitated up and tied itself into a slip knot and then untied.

Jonas looked at another piece of rope it did get up off the floor and floated in the air, however, it flailed around like an injured snake. "Not as easy as you make it look."

Jason smiled, "That's why we have four hours scheduled and you are a one on one training unlike the rest of the crew. I believe you will take two hours, though."

"You are a confident one Chief Waters," Jonas said as they continued the ICARUS one on one training.

A little more than two hours later the Captain had three balls that appeared to Juggle around him in mid-air, "so how am I doing?"

"You are now skilled out on the ICARUS, just remember that I have disabled holographic communication as we don't want it used in view of not Dauntless personnel, use only the Mind to Mind or tap your conventional communicator badge." Jason cleared his throat, "keep it in stealth mode unless you need to raise your phaser setting, by that time it's obvious you have something other than a phaser. And always carry your duty weapon while in the presence of any personnel not familiar with the ICARUS... it would raise suspicion to see an unarmed command officer. Remember we have to give the appearance of a normal Star Fleet crew when dealing with others.

With that Iris appears to walk out of the room's shadows from nowhere, "So how did my favorite Captain do?"

"Amazingly well," Jason said.

"We are all about smoke and mirrors," Iris said with a chuckle, "To that point whenever you are hailing or communicating with another ship they will see the illusion of a more conventional Star Fleet-bridge. I can create any illusion necessary on the fly. If for some reason you need to have other Star Fleet personnel present on our bridge I have a fully functional secondary bridge that may be used, but OUR Command Bridge is ONLY for the ship's officers approved to be there. I will never under any circumstances allow beaming or turbo lift access to the command bridge." Iris said with great authority.

"If I order it..." the Captain said sternly, "it will be so."

Iris pouted, "well bloody alright then," she said in her British accent, "but expect me to protest strenuously." With that the Avatar vanished.

"Thank you Chief, I'm going to go about my next item of business in Engineering." Chief Waters watched the Captain leave the range as he held back his laughter. Everyone already has figured out that Iris was used to getting her way... but not this time.


	6. Chapter 6 - First Flight

**Powering Up the Dauntless**

B'Elanna ran a diagnostic on the ship's systems and smiled as the engine finally came online with a hum... it vibrated the hangar deck deep within the Nellis starship facility.

The Dauntless was the Federation's newest ship design and many of the Federations enemies and some allies would be quite alarmed with the designs that were tested in this secret facility. She tapped her communicator out of habit and said, "B'Ellana Paris to Captain Jonas"

In seconds, the Captain responded from his office, "Yes Commander how may I be of service?"

"The Engines are online and operating at peak efficiency," she said as she made a triple check of the command panel for Engineering, "I think it's time to get this bird off of the ground.

"Agreed," Captain Alexander responded, "I'll inform the Admiral we are ready for launch."

Iris appeared with her usual quirky smile in Jonas' office, "connection with the Admiral established." Then her hologram morphed into the image of Admiral Kathryn Janeway

"Young Captain Jonas Alexander," she said with a smile, "you are interrupting my coffee break."

"I'm sorry Ma'am," he said politely.

"Who are you kidding," she said with a catty smile, "you get my age and reach this rank... every day, all day is practically a coffee break." She took a sip from her favorite cup and set it back down on her desk, "what do you have to report."

"This bird is ready to fly," he said, "B'Elanna Paris has notified me the engines are running at peak and ready."

"You are aware that the Dauntless alone could power two entire Starbases?" The Admiral asked.

Jonas nodded, "Yes Kathryn she is impressive... there is nothing else like her." Then a look of bewilderment appeared on his face, "oh... are we having an earthquake?"

Kathryn chuckled, "no not quite... the hangar elevator is making its way to the surface. You have thirty minutes then I expect to see that ship from my window at the Starbase. I have made sure that the docking pylon in with my best viewing vantage is open, I want to see the ship I've invested so much of my time into."

B'Elanna mind linked to Tom, "ready to take her to space darling?"

Lt. Commander Tom Paris smiled as he responded, "it's took you long enough."

"Not fair Tom, A lot of the design was custom built," she said as the engineering doors opened up and her husband walked in.

"By very capable hands," he said as he came up behind her and drew her into a soft embrace. He whispered in her ears, "she's beautiful darling."

B'Elanna smiled, "I'm glad you approve," as she felt her husband's soft kiss on her neck. "You scratch the paint and..."

Iris materialized beside them, "he will have to deal with me."

Tom groaned, "so much for the tender moment."

"Did I interrupt," Iris said quizzically?

A deep sigh and a very serious look from the Chief Engineer answered the question, "Tom... go to the bridge and get ready we should reach the surface soon." She turned and ignored Iris going through the final checklist. "You remind me of a certain holographic doctor."

"Daddy," Iris said with a smile... "yes my program is derived from his... and my matrix was designed by an Android named Data."

"Explains a lot," B'Elanna said gruffly.

The recently promoted Commander Harth was on the bridge when Tom Paris arrived, "So you are going to be the lucky flyboy who gets the first turn at the controls." She purred, "You lucky devil."

Tom looked at the Catian, "Well since my wife is going to be the Chief Engineering Designer of this crate, they assigned me as the lead shakedown pilot... although the slipstream will be piloted by someone else?" He wondered who since the slipstream controls were nowhere on the bridge to be found.

"That pilot has yet to transfer over we will meet him on the Starbase," she said with an unnatural grace as she checked the other bridge stations out. "We will also get the rest of our crew once docked at the Starbase."

Tom watched the holographic interface at his station as the ship finally reached the surface and the great hangar doors opened above him letting the sun shine on the Dauntless for the first time.

In the center of the bridge a hologram of Admiral Janeway appeared. "Its good to see you at that station Tom." She looked at Commander Harth, "And congratulations on your promotion Fairuza I am certain you will make an excellent first officer." She then noticed the Captain's office door slide open and acknowledged Captain Alexander as he stepped into the bridge, "Just in time for the launch of your ship... you're cutting it close Jonas."

"Close, but not late," he smiled. "Good to see you to Admiral Kathryn."

The hologram shimmered for a second and the Admiral materialized on the bridge, "it's good to be seen... normally we would christen with a bottle of champaign, but we will hold off on that until we launch from the Starbase." She looked at Tom and then to the Captain, "It's your ship... give the order when ready."

"Captain Jonas Alexander to Engineering are all systems go?" He asked after tapping his communicator out of habit.

"We are as ready as ever," B'Elanna replied, "all systems go."

Jonas turned to an eager Tom, "Make it so." he said as he raised his hand and made a motion as if to push a button in the air "Engage!"

Everything hummed as the anti-gravity drive engaged lifting the massive ship off of the pad. The landing gear automatically retracted and it began to float skyward. Iris materialized standing beside the Admiral, "I'm finally free floating skyward to the stars."

Janeway smiled, "It appears so."

Iris sighed, "It is written the safest place for a ship is in the harbor... but that's not what ships are made for."

Captain Jonas lit up, "20th century Admiral Grace Hopper... the mother of computer programming."

"Impressive," Iris said as she double checked the quote. The holographic view showed the starbase approaching in three-dimensional relief... the docking pylon extending and growing closer. "I got it from here Lt. Commander Paris thank you for not scratching my paint."

Janeway smiled, "Come to stellar cartography where your slipstream pilot will work and live."

"And live?" Jonas asked.

Iris chimed in, "Much easier to show you than tell you. Lt. Commander Tom Paris is welcome to come as well."

Everyone made their way to the turbo lift except for Iris who would simply materialize when the crew got there.

The turbo lift door slid open into stellar cartography... a large empty room was walled off by glass behind the usual stellar cartography equipment. Iris materialized behind the glass wearing what appeared to be a wetsuit complete with all necessary scuba equipment. She smiled behind the mask as she gave an enthusiastic thumb's up.

Janeway tapped her communicator, "Janeway to Xindi Aquatic Vessel, we are ready to receive Doctor Jophet. Iris has transmitted the precise coordinates you are free to beam her habitat over."

"Habitat," Tom said looking at Janeway with suspicion. This was something that B'Elanna did not even tell him about.

"Dr. Johpet is the designer of the slipstream controls and will serve as the slipstream pilot." Janeway turned to the large empty room as it was instantly filled when the aquatic's transporter beamed over Dr. Jophet's water, belongings, and Xindi furniture. "It is good to see you Doctor Jophet."

"It is an honor to be here," the computerized voice said as it translated her whale-song like sounds to English.

Captain Alexander walked over to the glass wall and placed his hand to it. The Xindi Aquatic swam over to him and placed one of her flippers to the glass, "I am your Captain... since you are a consultant and not a member of Starfleet you may feel free to call me Jonas informally." He looked her in the eye... "you are amazingly graceful and not what I expected."

Dr. Jophet's song was translated, "and you are amazingly kind and polite not what I expected either."

Janeway interrupted, "Come, there are other senior staff members who will transfer on board in a bit. Our next stop is sickbay... I have recruited one of the best doctors on the Starfleet rosters."


	7. Chapter 7 - Tour Interrupted

Janeway walked into a turbo lift and turned looking at her entourage, "next stop is ship's supply... I'm sure if you need something Lt. Neg will be able to acquire it?"

"Neg," Jonas said raising an eyebrow, "that name sounds familiar."

"She's Commander Nog's daughter, the Chief Engineer on Deep Space nine," Janeway said as she looked at the quizzical expression on the Captain's face, "you are wondering why a ship that has numerous replicators has the need for an antiquated supply officer." The Admiral watched as he nodded in agreement and continued, "quite simply because a Captain that was near and dear to my heart once was stranded far away from home and didn't have the fuel to spare to power their ship ... I can assure you the Captain was not happy to go so long without coffee... so we have a supply deck and Lieutenant Neg keeps things replicated and stocked, she's also in charge of the Hydroponic farm deck which leads me to Chef Zerg, a Klingon who is adept at all the best cuisines from many cultures. He has studied in France, the Culinary capital of the universe. Chef Zerg is a civilian who runs the dining room on the supply deck where the crew and their families can enjoy food that is freshly prepared and not replicated. I have Lieutenant Neg and Chef waiting at the Star Cafe."

The turbo lift opened to a large dining area complete with comfortable tables. The food was served cafeteria style along a serving line, everything smelled wonderful. Harth, who had been on the ship for some time now smiled, "This is always my favorite place."

Chef walked up and smiled with a loud belly laugh, "I have some fresh fish heads for you, my dear."

Jonas grimaced, "Fish heads?"

"A delicacy on my world," she said with a hint of purr in her voice, "at least it's not live gagh."

Chef chimed in, "I like gagh but much prefer racht with a deliciously pungent Grapok sauce."

"I'm suddenly not hungry," Harth yowled as the young female Ferengi laughed.

"We grow fresh gagh and racht here on board along with a wide variety of food stock," she smiled with delight and they young Ferengi spoke in a bubbly and excited voice, "are you my Captian?"

"I am," he said suddenly stern and solid, "and you should address a superior officer with a little more respect."

She suddenly clammed up and said, "I... I..." she took a deep breath, "beg your forgiveness and pardon."

Jonas relaxed a bit, "not necessary, I take it you know Kathryn," he said referring to the admiral informally to illustrate the point, "you see Kathryn has given me permission to address her informally as I am giving you and all my senior staff permission to call me Jonas while I am on the ship, but when we have a situation where we deal with other StarFleet we go back to formal rank and last name."

"I only have one name," Neg said, "we don't have last names."

"Neg, I understand that so how does a female Ferengi come to StarFleet?" Jonas asked as he tugged his uniform shirt.

"I wanted to follow my dad's footsteps and I wanted to see the stars. I was offered this position because," she looked at her feet embarrassed.

Kathryn responded, "because you are as crafty as your Uncle Quark and know the rules of acquisition as good as any DaiMon out there... yet you have the honor and integrity of your father and can use them to StarFleet's advantage should the Dauntless ever need them."

Harth chuckled, "I'm not going to challenge her to a game of Tongo anytime soon?"

"I'll crush you," Neg said enthusiastically.

Jonas snickered, "I'm sure of it," as he patted the young officer on her back, "you'll fit in just fine."

Chef walked up to Jonas with a covered dish and sat it on the table nearest to him... "Try this," he said knowing the Captain's family was greek. Underneath the dome was a delicate selection of dolmades, spanakopita, and succulent lamb gyro meat with tzatziki." Not one bite of this is replicated... the meat is synthesized in a medical tissue cloning reactor, but no animal feels pain... believe it or not I am all about not raising animals needlessly when we can synthesize the protein with minimal energy compared to replication. And it's so much more delicious."

Jonas took a bite of the stuffed grape leaf and smiled in delight, "I could get used to this Chef..." he looked at him not recalling his name.

"Zerg son of Larg," he said with an air of pride... "but Chef will do just fine... it's what everyone else calls me."

"Agreed," Jonas said as he was polishing off the last bites of the food. "I think this will greatly raise the morale of the entire crew."

Harth sighed, "we do have an officer's mess but the food there is replicated and I much rather come her."

Kathryn motioned for them to follow, "There is so much more to see here... please come along."

For what seemed to be hours the Admiral showed off the latest in on ship recreational facilities, lavish crew quarters where even the enlisted had a comfortable but efficiently small apartment instead of housing in the barracks-like dormitories.

The tour came to an abrupt halt when Iris appeared, "Admiral we have an emergency at the Elassi Prime Colony... the planet's core has been breached and they are calculating it will break up within the next ten hours."

"Are there any other ships nearby?" Kathryn asked.

"No," Iris responded, "our technology is the only way to reach them in time."

Kathryn sighed, "I did not want to use the jump drive in earth orbit where the news could announce our new technology to the population of the known Universe friend or foe... but I guess we have no choice." The Admiral looked at Jonas, "forgive an old lady who wants one last command..." she looked at Iris, "beam the necessary staff to the bridge along with the three of us."

In a blink of an eye the Admiral, Captain, and First officer were all beamed to the bridge instantaneously along with the other senior staff. Iris took the liberty to dress them mid-transport in the appropriate uniform if they were not already on duty. "I have assembled the necessary crew," she looked at them all and said, "stations please."

Jonas noticed a large Brikarian make his way to the science station and raised an eyebrow expecting him to be the tactical officer or security chief. A Vulcan took the position of security chief... but after looking at her closely he realized she had noticeable Romulan traits. Commander Tom Paris took the seat at the helm.

Admiral Kathryn Janeway taking command of the USS Dauntless... command code Delta Flyer Go Go Go." She smiled in delight when Tom's face lit up in reminiscence, "Take us out of the solar system maximum impulse please Tom."

There was no console in front of him so he waived his hands on the holographic controls which responded to their every move... with an uncanny grace never before seen in any starship the Dauntless turned tightly in the starbase hangar facing the outer doors which opened slowly and slid out into the vastness of space. She navigated through the solar system passing Mars, Jupiter, Saturn... and eventually made its way past the outer planetoids... "We are free of the Sol system."

Janeway smiled as she sat down in the first officer's chair patting the Captain's chair, "have a seat Jonas... you can do the honors of taking it from here."

Jonas tapped his comm badge out of habit, "Jonas to Engineering, please spin up the jump drive."

The voice of B'Elanna came over the comm, "They will be ready in three minutes."

"Captain to Stellar Cartography, Dr. Jophet, please plot a jump to Elassi Prime."

He stood by as the sing-song of the Aquatic's language came over the speaker which was immediately translated. "Course set and programmed for Jump, isn't it a bit early to attempt a jump?"

"It's an emergency," Jonas said as he heard his words translated in the aquatic song oddly in his voice.

An audible screech came back that was translated, "Understood."

B'Elanna's voice came over the comm, "Power at one hundred percent on all four reactors."

Jonas looked at Janeway and Harth with child-like excitement, "this has never been tested before?"

"Only on the very small test ships," Kathryn said.

"How successful?" Harth asked.

"Mostly," Kathryn responded, "until Dr. Jophet cracked the code necessary to fold space, that's why she's here to navigate."

"How certain are you that he is accurate," Jonas asked.

"I am at least 99%," Kathryn said sighing, "anyone has that 1% no matter how good they are. We will jump a safe distance away from any habited planet... after all we generating enough power to sustain two of the largest of a Federation starbases. All four of our reactors are going full strength."

Jonas said looking at Tom, "here goes nothing... Engage!

The dauntless had several emitter's open up along the triangular head of it's frontal body. The warp nacelles unfolded in an elaborate, but the delicate arrangement of jump drive emitters which encircled the area around the ship. The Dauntless began to glow in a bright almost paranormal white light.

A small asteroid was hovering in space 150 astronomical units away from the planet, a safe distance Dr. Jophet calculated in case something went terribly wrong A jump could not be made unless the space was outside any known traffic lanes, there was always some risk that a jump could go horribly wrong and the Dauntless would arrive in the same space some other ship was, which would not necessarily be fatal for the other ship as long as it was within the displaced jump radius of the Dauntless.

The space around the asteroid began to glow in the same paranormal white light and the asteroid was gently pulled to the center of the field... with a sudden silent flash the Dauntless appeared in space that the asteroid once occupied... and the asteroid materialized in space the Dauntless previously occupied.

Not much was said as the Captain and visitors made their way down a few long corridors to the sick bay. Admiral Janeway stopped at the door, "Before you go in you have to understand that our doctor is a little bit unconventional. She smiled wryly, but I assure you that s/he is quite a capable doctor... but you have to understand that crew may not initially understand how to interact with hir. I hope you are familiar with the social interaction protocol with a Hermat?" The elder Admiral asked her young Captain.

"Vaguely," Jonas said as he looked at his first officer Harth, "but then again I teased my first officer with the smell of my pet's food the other day," He said with a playful smile shot at the Catian.

Janeway nodded reassuringly, "you will be fine... just remember instead of she or he its s/he... instead of Him or Her it's Hir... Instead of His or Her's it's Hir's... and all will be well."

The sickbay door slid open to reveal what was more akin to a Starbase hospital than a ship's sickbay Harth never much cared for doctors and used a clinic on the starbase that was more familiar with her physiology, "Wow it's really big?"

Doctor Joelynn turned around, "excuse me I am NOT an it. You can say Wow s/he's really big, but I take great offense..." she looked Harth up and down and the strong but delicate face cracked a smile, "being called an IT as you are when they call you kitty."

"Wow," Harth said taken aback, "I was talking about the size of the sickbay... I had not noticed you yet." She said blinking with her natural third eyelid before her main eyelid blinked downward. She focused her ice blue eyes at the doctor, "but I have to say you are an amazing combination of strength and beauty."

The Hermat smiled, "I am Doctor Joelynn 39, Chief Medical officer of the Dauntless... let's start over... pleased to meet you." S/he said extending hir hand to shake the first officer's hand.

The Catian smiled, "I am Commander Fairuza Harth, First officer of the Dauntless... and the pleasure is mine," she said as he put her paw into the doctor's hand who immediately began to establish dominance by squeezing firmly. Harth made a purring noise as she unsheathed a couple of claws ever so slightly not to puncture the doctor's skin... childish but the doctor lessened hir grip.

"Wow," Captain Alexander said as he looked at the herbs and plants that were growing in a room off to the side of sickbay, "um, nice plants."

Dr. Joelynn smiled, "I believe in naturally sourced medicinals whenever practical, those plants are amazing gifts from twelve worlds... I can synthesize hundreds of cures from them."

"And how large is this sick bay?" He asked trying to put to rest any further tensions. It seemed to loosen the Doctor up a bit and s/he calmed down, "There are 75 dedicated hospital beds in single rooms arranged in a circular pattern since this deck is mostly round. I have four complete operational surgical suites that can be isolated independently... four additional isolation areas and the capacity to put over 100 people into life-saving stasis in sickbay and can convert any cargo bay to a large stasis bay if needed." S/he tugged her uniform down, "I run a tight sick bay... and we will have the medical staff on board to handle a mass casualty event. I'm quite proud of our crew and capabilities here."

"I see that," Captain Jonas said sighing wondering where Iris had gone off to... "I like what I see, but forgive me if my sincere wish is that we never have to see it in full operation."

Joelynn smiled, "I understand, but it is better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it." As the Command staff was walking out of the sick bay, the doctor smiled at Harth, "want to have a drink in the ship's officer's lounge later?"

Harth was taken aback for a second and said, "I guess that would be nice."

"It's not often I find someone like you Commander we are both alone with no one else from our homeworlds... I'll keep an open mind if you would kindly do the same."

The First officer purred for a second, she was flattered "why wouldn't I?" She simply said, "after all most people look for a litter box when they visit my quarters."

The doctor's harsh demeanor softened, "oh that's cruel." S/he said as the door slid shut behind the command staff.

Jonas took a deep breath, "now that's interesting... what if it turns out to be more than a drink?"

If Harth could blush she would be as red as her shirt, "Please Captain... just a drink between two officers nothing more."


	8. Chapter 8 - Shockwave

Jonas turned to the massive science officer who was standing at his station, "what is the status on the planet?"

The deep voice of the Brikarian boomed, "the core will reach critical mass in three hours."

"That's less time than originally reported," Janeway said looking panicked.

"Move the Dauntless into position and begin forced beam out of the colonists... there's no time for them to gather belongings." Captain Jonas touched the shoulder of Tom Paris, "be ready to pull away if things turn to shit."

Janeway raised an eyebrow at the captain's use of profanity, "couldn't have expressed it better myself," as she looked at the three-dimensional rendering of the planet. "I never expected to press this ship into service so quickly."

Jonas nodded tapping a button on his command chair, "This is Captain Alexander to all personnel on board the dauntless. I know many of you are technicians working on the systems of the Dauntless... but we have been called to aide in the evacuation of a remote colony. I need everyone who is not working on an essential system to assist in this evacuation, please assemble in the large Gymnasium across from the sick bay. I am asking Doctor Joelynn to head up this evacuation as I am sure some colonists may need medical care. Please follow hir directions." He somehow expected her to protest to his request... but he knew that being medical she would be the best officer for the task. Turning towards the science station "How large is the colony?"

The Brikarian ran a scan, "I detect 942 sentient beings, and what appears to be 176 domesticated companion animals." He said turning to the captain, "I can begin beam out from my station materializing them into the cargo holds."

"Small Colony," Jonas said turning to an empty communications station, "I guess we have no comm officer?"

Iris materialized in the chair with, "I can do in a pinch."

"I'm not arguing with you Iris," He smirked slyly at her, "Open a comm link to the colony."

"Aye, Sir!" The avatar replied, "Open."

"This is Captain Jonas Alexander of the Starship Dauntless... ready yourself for immediate transporter evacuation. Begin uploading the contents of the colony's computer to us immediately. Grab only what you can immediately put your hands on. We will start with the people and if time allows we will beam up the domestic animals."

The Mayor of the colony appeared on the screen, "I am Tamsyn Allgier, Mayor of the Elassai Prime colony... good to see you but we have important artifacts to save."

"No Time Mayor Allgier," Jonas said as he stood up... he always thought it added an air of authority wen needed, "nothing is as important as the lives of your people."

"But you don't understand..." she said almost trembling at the thought, "we need at least five hours to gather all the writings we have found..."

"Writings," Jonas asked... "you barely have two hours... you have to get your people up here safely."

"Two hours..." the Mayor screeched, "are you sure?"

The Brikarian interrupted, "it's escalating more like thirty minutes."

Iris looked at the captain, "we can do a digitizing beam out of the artifacts... I can take the transporter buffer and store it in my memory core for later replication... I can't do this with living material, but I can manage to store the artifacts."

Jonas looked at the mayor, "Excellent, it looks like we have a solution..." he turned to the Brikarian, "You... I don't know your name. Begin beam out."

"I am Lt. Commander Moe," the Brikarian replied, "beginning evacuation."

He looked at Commander Harth, "Number One, please find Mayor Allgier and bring her to the Bridge."

"Aye Captain," she said as she turned towards the turbo lift her long tail trailing elegantly behind her.

"We have 50% of the colonists on board," Commander Moe responded.

Jonas chuckled as he turned to Janeway, "Archaeology colonies... there's always some sacred precious something that needs to be saved."

Fifteen minutes pass when Commander Harth arrives back on the bridge with Mayor Allgier who smiled at the Captain, "Thank you for saving our butts... now can you save the writings?"

"Where are they," Iris asked.

"They are in the library building on the town square," she sighed, "but you don't know which one it is?"

The holographic projector in the center of the room showed the buildings on the town square... "Just point it out Iris said."

The Mayor walked over and said this one, "as she passed her hand through it."

"Commencing beam to buffer," Iris said without touching anything on the console in front of her. What appeared to be a phaser began to fire from the ship touching the building.. it slowly seemed to be disintegrating the building on the holographic viewer.

"You are destroying it," Mayor Allgier screeched, "how could you?"

"I am actually breaking it down into a molecular pattern and storing it to be replicated elsewhere. Technically the artifacts won't be the same quantum matter as what I'm recording, but they will have the exact same writing and details down to the last speck of dust on them when reconstructed." Iris said then added very curtly, "considering the only other option is destruction this is the best I can do on short notice.

The Mayor sighed, "It would take a long time to properly pack them up for transport," she turned to Jonas, "so I guess our people will have to hole up in the cargo hold for the long trip to any other planet?"

"No we will have you back to Earth within a few hours," Jonas said with a smile.

"Earth, That's twenty days at maximum warp," she exclaimed... "you've got to be kidding..."

Janeway put her arm around the Mayor, "No we are not... why don't you come get a bite to eat with me and we'll talk." She said leading her to the turbo lift.

Moe proudly exclaimed as they left the bridge, "All colonists onboard... pets included."

"Mr. Paris has the jump back to the Terran sector loaded?" Jonas asked.

"Captain, we just have to go to the same point we arrived and reverse jump back to where we were, very simple."

"Make it so... I don't want to stay for the fireworks," Jonas responded.

"Aye sir," Paris said as he maneuvered the ship to their entry point... "Three minutes for jump engines to reach critical mass."

The ship began to unfold the jump emitters when Commander Moe interrupted, "Oh my, the planet just blew the shockwave will be here in one minute fifteen seconds."

Tom Paris interrupted, "But sir... we still need just under two and a half minutes for the jump drive to be ready."

"Rush it," Captain Jonas said.

"We can't," B'elanna said with a deep sigh... and the jump has stated.

The holographic emitter showed the approaching shockwave growing ever closer... there was no way to stop the jump... and no way to predict how the shockwave would effect them... the ships shields and navigational deflectors held as the shockwave pushed it out of its position... one minute later space folded and the Dauntless dematerialized.


	9. Chapter 9 - New Beginnings

**Chapter 9: New Beginnings**

The shockwave overwhelmed the gravitational dampers causing the ship to shake violently as the ship materialized in some unknown part of the universe. Captain Jonas Alexander was thrown from his chair onto the floor where he struggled for a moment as the gravitational dampers readjusted to normal earth gravity. He did not bother to tap the communicator as he tapped the back of his ICARUS, "All hands report." Silence was all he got back as fire suppression systems extinguished the control panels around him. "IRIS Can you hear me?"

Her voice responded much like the conventional computer systems, "Yes I can hear you but my photonic emitters are offline I can not materialize to help the crew."

"What is the damage," Jonas asked.

Iris responded, "I don't know... I can't feel entire sections of the ship?"

"Feel?" Jonas responded oddly... "Oh, I get it... the ship is your body."

"I am considered sentient so yes," Iris said with a tinge of panic to her voice, "and Captain, I am scared."

This puzzled the Captain, "Scared?"

"You could say I am blind... I cannot see... many of my sensors are offline and I am unaware of my surroundings. My repair nanites are already deployed and working on getting everything online again."

"Repair nanites?" Jonas asked as he was unaware of many of the new technology on the ship.

Tom Paris was strapped into the pilot's station, "yes... it was something that B'Ellana reverse engineered from the Borg. She took the assimilation nanites principal and used it to create microscopic repair drones. They are able to repair most systems with the exception of the Data Storage system where Iris has her consciousness..." he said until he was interrupted.

"And what happens if that system is damaged," the Captain asked?

Iris responded, "I either become what you consider mentally unstable... or I die." Iris blinked into physical existence as her bridge emitter came online as the nanites finished it's repair. "I'm here to help render medical aide first... the warp core is stable," she said as she went over to Admiral Janeway who was unconscious and laying prone on the floor by a science station. "The Admiral has been mortally injured."

Tom looked at the Captain, "Mortally?" He rose to his feet and knelt near the Admiral, "Wake up old friend," he said as he put his fingers on her neck and felt no pulse.

Captain Alexander sat in his chair, "bridge to sickbay... we need immediate medical attention to the bridge. The Admiral is down."

Doctor Joelynn responded, "I am terribly busy here... I have more than I can handle. I understand the EMH/IRIS emitters are down over most of the ship we have mass casualties here... I'm talking over half of the ship's crew and colonists are injured. There are people here I just can't help." She said with deep regret, "Captain my arm is broken and I can't use one of my hands... but I'm trying to do the best I can... I can't take time..."

"You will take time," Captain Alexander said sternly, "physician heal thyself... then you can do a much better job."

"Aye Sir," the CMO responded as she dropped the channel.

Suddenly the wounded on board began to vanish until even Captain Jonas vanished and found himself laying immobile on a padded table with immensely bright white light surrounding him then he found himself slipping into unconsciousness.

**-[ Back on the Bridge ]-**

Iris pushed the repair nanites to their limits as she watched every living being on board the Dauntless vanish to include the crew's pets. Even Dr. Jophet and the water of her habitat vanished. She was alone... and defying all logic and explanation her external sensors failed to function no matter what she did. She was alone... and had been alone for 70 hours... in two hours she would be forced to execute the self-destruct directive to prevent her technology from falling into the hands of those who would use it to harm the Federation. Her photonic image sat in the Captain's chair, "So what to do old girl..." she said with a chuckle.

Suddenly the image of a being appeared before her... it was three feet tall, had glowing paper white skin and no sign of hair or ears. It's three eyes were arranged in a triangular array allowing it 360 degrees of view around it's head. It had what appeared to be a mouth in the center of the top of it's head. It stood on three legs and had three arms. The mouth opened and it made a strange sound that would have unnerved any organic being, but somehow she found it's language uploaded in her memory banks, "I am Ambassador Zylfra of the Consortium of Tolis... we have removed the organics off of this vessel to heal and adapt them for this region of space. We have a law similar to your Federation Starfleet Prime Directive and will not engage another species until they have reached the technology necessary to fold space. I am honored to be the Ambassador to make the first contact with your species."

"Whoa," Iris replied, "how do I have your language in my memory?"

Zylfra made a chuckling noise, "My dear Iris, your computer is primitive compared to our technology... downloading and interpreting the data contained within was quite easy for us. We already know your federation history... laws and political climate of your galaxy."

"So we have..." she started to ask before getting interrupted.

"You are no longer in your Galaxy, that is correct..." Zylfra said as the veil lifted from her sensors. "We are currently using your medical database to repair the damage to your biological beings... however we have had to make some minor changes in their physiology to adapt them to the differences in cosmic background radiation from our Galaxy."

"Whoah what do you mean by adapt," Iris said protesting.

Zylfra made a noise that was interpreted as a sigh, "We had to resequence their DNA a bit... and we are also changing the molecular structure of the metal in the hull of this vessel to better protect you while in our space."

"We could simply return home and that would solve the problem?" Iris interjected.

The being seemed to lilt a bit on it's three legs, "my dear Iris... if only that were possible. You folded recklessly... our entire Science caste has reviewed the star charts contained in your databanks and we have no clue where you are from. The best that we can do is to make you comfortable in our galaxy and protect you for a bit as you get re-established. We welcome your species and will do whatever we can to provide you with a home."

"A home?" Iris said, "We have a home."

Zylfra's arm waived and an image appeared in the holo-emitter, in the center appeared to float what could only be described as a modern looking federation starbase. "We have constructed this habitat... we based it upon the technology and computers on board this vessel with the rudimentary plans of what you call a starbase."

Iris suddenly became aware of a docking clamp attaching to her hull, "now wait a minute..."

The Alien continued, "your other alternative is to repair your jump drive and blindly leap from galaxy to galaxy until you find your own. More than likely you will become more and more lost or you could hit the intergalactic lottery and find your star somewhere within the vastness of the universe. Even we have only explored and mapped seven galaxies and we have had fold space technology for many of your millennia. And there are those out there who would harm and destroy you for no other reason than it brings them delight to harm and destroy you. I assure you we have done the best that we could for you now... and have reached the limit to what our prime directive will allow."

"Limit?" Iris asked.

"We have given you an equivalency of the knowledge contained in your databases in the computer core on the starbase. We have matched its technology to the technology on board this ship. The computer has even taken a new name and persona different than yours. I will leave you two to get acquainted with each other. My species will no longer be in contact until the time comes when our directive may guide us to intervene again." Zylfra said as it vanished.

Suddenly a very attractive male image appeared on the bridge wearing the same silver trimmed Starfleet uniform that Iris appears in, "Hello Iris... I am Gavin."

**-[ Change of Command ]-**

Captain Alexander lay on the table when the weight that was holding him down let up... he heard the familiar voice of Kathryn Janeway, "Hello Jonas." She said her voice absent with the crackle of age... it's youthful tone restored.

"Kathryn?" He said as he sat up and saw her in a long sparkling white dress, "is that you? Are we dead?"

"Yes it is me... and no we are not dead..." She said then suddenly added, "or at least you are not dead. I now exist non corporally."

"Huh?" He said as he scratched his head.

Janeway continued... "We have been rescued by a very advanced civilization called the Consortium of Tolis... they have healed and repaired everyone they could... my body was too badly damaged so they helped me to ascend to this state of existence. There were only three deaths in all of the people on board the ship. Unfortunately, the other two were so badly damaged they were not able to help them to ascend. I will be returning with you, in this form... the Tolisians have asked me to serve as the ambassador for our people as we get established in their galaxy."

"In their galaxy?" Jonas asked.

"We won't be going home anytime soon my dear young Captain Jonas Alexander... the Tolisians have absolutely no clue where our galaxy is," she said. "At least on the voyager we had stars to calculate exactly how far away we were from home in the Delta Quadrant... now we have no quadrants... we have truly gone where no man has been before."

Jonas shook his head, "why can't we just ask the Q for help or something..."

"In all the thousands of years the Tolisians have been in existence they have never encountered the Q... so it's possible that the Continuum isn't as omnipotent as they would like us to believe," She said... "although in my new existence as true energy I am not so certain I am much different than they are."

"What do you mean?" Jonas asked.

She sighed, "I can feel the very fabric of the universe around me... it's exhilarating."

"Admiral," he said, "you can lead us home?"

Janeway shook her head no, "Captain... you are now the ranking officer here... hell you are now the highest Federation official in the Tolisian galaxy. What you do from here will have great consequences."

"Great consequences," he said, "in what way?"

"The Tolisians are not quite certain that we will do well here... it's up to you to explore and meet new races. They find the Federation principals quite honorable and hope that you will be able to make contact with many pre-warp civilizations within their galaxy. They are a race of watchers who have grown bored... and now we have arrived... and they are excited to find out what we can accomplish, we are now their new entertainment to watch."

"Will we ever be able to go home?" Jonas asked.

Janeway sighed, "I have as much hope of that as tasting coffee again," she said with a chuckle, "but I'm never going to give up hope that someday I can."


	10. Chapter 10 - The Art of Deception

The young Vulcan exchange officer who served as Admiral Janeway's aide, T'Norva woke up in her quarters with an odd sensation that seemed off center. "Computer, have we arrived back at Earth."

The voice of Iris responded back politely, "no subcommander we are somewhere else." Was the only answer given.

"Somewhere else?" T'noma said raising an eyebrow, and then added, "I am unable to logically accept somewhere else, can you please elaborate?"

"That information is classified at this time," Iris responded. There was no real precedent other than the original Voyager mission.

A vague memory of being tossed around flashed in T'Noma's mind, "I need to go check on the Admiral and see if she has any needs." If anyone could give T'Norva some answers it would be her direct superior.

"Unfortunately Lieutenant that is not possible at this time," Iris said knowing that the acting counselor from the rescued colony would soon be by to assist the Captain with informing the aide of the loss of Janeway and the situation they are now in. Iris could only imagine the counselor will be quite busy with the crew, after all they have just been marooned in a galaxy other than their own and no one has a clue exactly where home is anymore. "The Captain will be by shortly to brief you on the current situation."

"Understood," T'Norva said as she walked over to gaze out of the space window of her quarters. The computer beeped acknowledging the end of the conversation. As she looked out of the window an overwhelming emotion of shock came upon her after seeing the highly advanced starbase that the ship was now docked with. She could hear her own voice in her mind speaking, _the Federation has been hiding a lot of technologies from us. This treachery needs to be reported immediately to the Romulan Star Empire._

She immediately asked, "Computer which starbase is that?"

And without missing a beat Iris responded, "that information is classified at this moment."

The first thought that came into T'Norva's mind was "Damn Federation always appearing to be so benign, so diplomatic. It is as we are told by the Praetor, they are treacherous and deceitful." Her duty now as a Romulan subcommander was to destroy the dauntless and try to take out the starbase with it.

-[ Two Hours Later ]-

T'Norva felt like a prisoner in her own quarters and she struggled to hide her impatience, her anxiety. She had the replicator create a Vulcan meditation lantern and sat in the middle of the room. She was taught the Vulcan meditation practices as part of her cover but found them to be useful and relaxing at this moment until the door chime of her quarters almost made her jump out of her skin. She took a deep breath and with the calmest soothing voice she could conjure said, "Come in."

The door slid open and only Captain Jonas Alexander walked into the room and gave her the Vulcan salute, "Live long and prosper."

T'Norva responded politely, "Peace and long life." She cupped her hands over the meditation lamp extinguishing its artificial flame. "How may I be of service?"

"Lieutenant," Captain Alexander said with a long face, "Admiral Janeway is now deceased." Jonas was confident that the Vulcan's took death much easier than humans and a counselor would not be necessary, only logical facts.

"May her katra be at peace," she responded as she stood up and looked at him, "may I ask where are we?"

"There are many questions as to what is going on at this time, I will do my best to answer them all," Jonas said as he walked to the window, "our experimental propulsion system was thrown off by a gravimetric shockwave. Quite honestly Lieutenant no one knows where we are."

"Then what of the starbase?" She asked.

"It's not ours," Captain Alexander said as he continued on for the next fifteen minutes briefing T'Norva with all the details as he currently understood them. "Lieutenant T'Norva, due to our current circumstances we have found the necessity to make some field promotions and reassignments. You are now part of our crew and I need a qualified Yeoman I can count on. If you were good enough to be Admiral Janeway's trusted aide then I know you won't fail me."

It was all she could do to keep from smiling, her mind flashed back to the day she first laid eyes on him. She was Romulan and had found him quite attracted she caught herself smiling at him and caught herself before it blew her cover. She spread her fingers towards him and bowed saying, "I am here to serve."

Jonas politely responded, "I am honored by your service." As he turned to leave T'Norva spread her fingers in the traditional Vulcan salute.

"Captain, live long and prosper," She said calmly.

"And may you have peace and long life... and a safe return to your home planet before it's over." Was his response as he walked out the door and it slid shut.

She took a deep meditative breath and thought to herself, either that was the biggest most elaborate deception she ever heard or it was the truth. After a few moments, she came to accept it was the truth. Then the realization set in. There will be no extraction by the Romulans. She will go insane if she had to continue her grand deception as a Vulcan. But the alternative would be certain execution if her true nature was revealed. T'Norva's heart sank as the gravity of her situation set in, she had no choice but to continue her great deception and would have cried in the moment if her tear ducts were not surgically altered so the tears would run down her throat.


	11. Chapter 11 - Adjusting to Circumstance

Settling In:

The senior staff were all seated around the conference table in the ready room with the addition of Mayor Tamsin Allgier and the constructed Starbase's A.I. Gavin standing with Iris. Captain Jonas Alexander sat at the head end of the conference room table while Major Allgier occupied the seat at the other end.

"My people want answers," Allgier said angrily. "When are we going home?"

"Mayor," the Captain said, "I'm afraid that I can only say not for a long time, if ever."

"If ever," the Mayor said sharply…

"Mayor," he said in a soothing voice, "please calm yourself. Our experimental drive malfunctioned causing us to jump to a galaxy that is not our own. We don't know where home is at this current time."

"Don't know," she said as the shock of it washed across her face, "surely there's some way to know."

Jonas looked at Harth who continued, "we cannot find any familiar matching stars to navigate with. I can assure you that we do not know where we are."

"But what of the Starbase we see from outside the viewports? How can we not know where we are and yet we are docked with a federation starbase," Allgier questioned skeptically.

Gavin started speaking, "you are in the Tolisian Galaxy and the Starbase you see was created by an advanced species so that you will have more room and a safe place to establish yourself."

"If the fucking advanced species can create a Starbase out of thin air then they can damn well send us home," Allgier snapped back.

"If only," Iris answered, "the advanced species has their limits until we materialized in their space they did not know we existed. In fact they have made it clear that they are pushing the limits to their own prime directive by creating it for us. The ship is overcrowded and our resources are finite, we will soon be unable to sustain all the people from the colony and what crew we had on board."

Doctor Joelynn raised hir hand and began to speak when Captain Jonas nodded, "I have examined the habitat of the starbase and found it to be acceptable to our needs. The colony has two doctors and several medically trained personnel. But I need additional staff on board the Dauntless as my staff had yet to fully report before the shakedown cruise."

B'Ellana Torres nodded, "there isn't a chief engineer on board. In light of the current situation, I am willing to come out of retirement."

Captain Jonas nodded as he turned to Yeoman T'Norva, "please make sure that you update the Chain of Command rosters with all the changes we decide on here." He turned back to the conference room meeting and smiled, "I accept immediate reinstatement of your commission, I could use your husband's help too."

Tom Paris smiled, "what do you have in mind Captain?"

Jonas smiled, "how about command of the starbase next to us… of Course Mayor Tamsyn Allgier will retain her governance of the civilians. However due to the nature of our situation Major Allgier we may have to institute conscription of your skilled colonists to fill operational needs of the Starbase and the Ship."

Mayor Allgier looked somewhat displeased, "you mean a draft?"

"No, we will do what we can to avoid it, but it will make it easier if they fit somehow into the command staff structure. From a military standpoint it is easier to take orders from a leader who carry the authority of rank than a civilian who has no rank or authority." He sighed, "I wish it could be different, but we have to learn to work together."

Tamsyn smiled, "I understand and that does make sense." She stretched her legs in the seat, "but we have children and consideration needs to be made before putting their parents in harm's way."

Fairuza Harth nodded, "all efforts to respect that will be made. But we have been reduced pretty much to the pioneers of the old Earth's west. Children will now need to be trained to accept greater responsibility at an earlier age. Sadly our long term survival will depend on it."

Jonas nodded, "Tom Paris you are reinstated with the rank of Commander and you will assume immediate command of the Starbase."

Iris interrupted, "It should be noted with the loss of Admiral Janeway and the lack of a flag officer pursuant to regulations that Captain Alexander Jonas should be immediately elevated to the rank of Admiral assuming control of all Federation Operations in this…" she paused as the word that popped into her artificially intelligent mind was mess and continued, "… in this Galaxy. Commander Fairuza Harth shall be elevated to Captain, and Tom Paris also shall be elevated to Captain."

Gavin continued, "I accept Captain Tom Paris as full command of Starbase Gavin."

Tom chuckled, "Starbase Gavin?"

"I am the A.I. Interface constructed from the Iris program. I have chosen a male appearance and persona." He spoke in an American accent, "Until we come up with a better name for the Starbase I chose the name Gavin?"

Iris smiled, "trust me he is a complete and separate entity and not a copy of my own core experiences. He has knowledge of all the known planets and races of this galaxy and the Tolisians have uploaded a database of all data they feel we would benefit from. Unfortunately I don't have the storage capacity to contain it all."

B'Ellana was shocked, "but Iris, no computer built to date has as much storage as you."

"This was before Gavin," Iris smiled, "he's also much bigger than I"

Admiral Jonas nodded, "I can understand, the first order of business will be to have Dr. Jophet study everything she can about this galaxy. Her expertise in astrometric cataloging will come in most handy."

A small view screen showed Dr. Jophet in her containment take the singsong sounds of her language was heard with a vocal translation, "so far I've yet to correlate any known star we are indeed lost."

Jonas looked at Harth, "The first order of business will be for you to pick a first officer, Captain."

Harth smiled, "I think your yeoman will make a fine choice as a first officer. Are you up to it Lieutenant T'Norva?"

The shock of it was almost overwhelming, but T'Norva manage to hold the icy cold Vulcan facade together, "what logic are you using to make your choice? There are other logical choices that are much better than I."

"Logical yes," Harth said, "but the needs of the many serve better to keep them in their current positions. Right now I need someone with impeccable organizational skills. You can help me hold everything together as we are about to enter some very rough times. I'm sorry but due to the current situation your acceptance is compulsory."

T'Norva nodded, "I come to serve." Yet a wave of nausea washed over the Romulan she was now officially to the point she was deeply over her head.

Tom Paris looked at Mayor Tamsyn Allgier, "then I consider you my second in command as it will take your colonists help to run this starbase. I will grant you full access to the operational command deck of the starbase."

Admiral Alexander sighed, "then we have the structure to move forward. I will remain on board the Dauntless which is now officially the Federation Flagship of this galaxy. Captain Paris, I need you to assume immediate control and occupy the starbase. Mayor Allgier please compile a list of all colonists and their job occupations and get them to Captain Paris. Gavin can you work with Captain Paris to assign appropriate quarters for all of the colonists and whatever Starfleet staff that will be assigned to the starbase."

Gavin nodded, "I think I can handle that."

"Excellent," Admiral Jonas said reluctantly. "Remember everyone, we are the Federation here, we will meet again in one week to review where we are. Everyone Dismissed."


End file.
